The Homebrew Channel is a self-updating homebrew application loader by Team Twiizers which allows users to load homebrew applications without having to run an exploit every time. Once installed, users can access the channel from the Wii System Menu just like any other Wii channel. It can launch or install homebrew applications from an SD or SDHC card or via TCP/USB Gecko using Wiiload. You can install the Homebrew Channel as part of the HackMii Installer by seeing the Installation part of this page.

Press when told to continue installing HBC and BootMii. NOTE: Newer Wii Remotes with WiiMotion+ integrated will not work with the Hackmii Installer. You'll need to use (borrow from a friend?) the older Wii Remote style and perform a red-button synchronisation on the System Menu to use the Hackmii Installer. As in Hackmii Installer v1.0, Wii Remotes with WiiMotion+ will work.

The installation should be automatic from this point on, and your Wii will reboot.

Using a DVD

The DVD method requires a drivechip and won't work with the 3.3 firmware update or newer. DVD images for the more recent versions are currently unavailable, though you can install beta8 and then update.

Using a previous unsigned code-loading method

If you have an older version of the Homebrew Channel or another means of executing unsigned code, you can use the auto update function to install the latest version.

Configuring Applications

In order to make an application appear in the Homebrew Channel, the following steps must be taken:

Make a folder on the root of your SD card called "apps".

In the folder "apps," create a folder for the application (for this example, ScummVM will be used).

Copy the files for the application into its folder (e.g. apps/scummvm/).

Find the executable file (either .elf or .dol) and rename it to boot.elf (or boot.dol if it was a .dol file) if it is not already named that (e.g. apps/scummvm/boot.dol). If the app comes with these files, copy the icon.png and meta.xml files into this folder.

Now the application will appear in the Homebrew Channel. However, if the application did not come with icon.png or meta.xml, its appearance on the menu is ugly, and difficult to distinguish from other applications. To fix this, text and an image can be added.

Adding Text

To add text to an application in the Homebrew Channel, do the following: (note: you may install the Homebrew Browser and download pre-formatted apps without performing this step for every app)

Make a file in the folder of the application (e.g. apps/ScummVM/) called "meta.xml" (e.g. apps/ScummVM/meta.xml).

Add the appropriate information in between the relevant indicators. For example, the name of the application goes between <name> and </name>. The purpose of each field is as follows:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<app version="1">
<name>The name of the application</name>
<coder>The name of the person or group that wrote the code for the program.</coder>
<version>The version of the application.</version>
<release_date>The data the application was released.
It has to be a timestamp using this format: YYYYmmddHHMMSS</release_date>
<short_description>This is displayed on the main menu of the Homebrew Channel
(before you select an application) and is used as a space to add a few words
to describe the program.</short_description>
<long_description>This is displayed once the application is chosen. It describes
the program and its function in great detail, and can be used to elaborate
on a program's controls.</long_description>
</app>

An example of a completed "meta.xml" for ScummVM is provided below:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<app version="1">
<name>ScummVM</name>
<coder>dhewg</coder>
<version>rev32231</version>
<release_date>20080523000000</release_date>
<short_description>Point &amp; Click Adventures</short_description>
<long_description>ScummVM is a program which allows you to run certain classic
graphical point-and-click adventure games,provided you already have their
data files. The clever part about this: ScummVM just replaces the executables
shipped with the games, allowing you to play them on systems for which they
were never designed! Some of the adventures ScummVM supports include Adventure
Soft's Simon the Sorcerer 1 and 2; Revolution's Beneath A Steel Sky,
Broken Sword 1 and Broken Sword 2; Flight of the Amazon Queen; Wyrmkeep's Inherit
the Earth; Coktel Vision's Gobliiins; Westwood Studios' The Legend of Kyrandia
and games based on LucasArts' SCUMM (Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion)
system such as Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, Sam and Max and more.
</long_description>
</app>

Optional meta.xml XML nodes

The following nodes must be children of the <app> node.

Additionally supported by The Homebrew Channel (starting with v1.0.7):

FAQ

Adding an Icon

In order to make icons for the Homebrew Channel show up, they must be in .png format with dimensions of 128x48 pixels. The full alpha channel can be used. Copy it into the folder of the application under the name "icon.png" (e.g. apps/scummvm/icon.png).

Complete Setup Format

You should have a compatible SD or SDHC card. See here for a list of SD and SDHC cards known to be compatible or incompatible. Note: it is by no means a complete list.

An SD card should be formatted in FAT16 or FAT32.
After you have installed the apps on your SD card, its folder structure should look something like this:

Removable Disk (eg: (E:) on Windows and where it is mounted to on Linux or Mac OS X eg: /media/disk/ )

Compatibility

Note: The Homebrew Channel requires that you system have at least one unpatched IOS in order to guarantee reliable performance; we've received too many bug reports that were later traced to misbehaving versions of IOS. The HackMii Installer will automatically choose an appropriate (unpatched) IOS to use when installing the Homebrew Channel; if you attempt to defeat this safety measure by replacing its IOS with a corrupted version, you may experience an "impaired HBC experience" (an upside-down screen or a warning message at every startup). Please just don't do it.

Themes

As of 1.0.7, The Homebrew Channel is capable of theming. The images and fonts are stored in a theme.zip, which can be executed like a boot.dol from the Homebrew Channel.

As you can see, each <font> element can be assigned to one or multiple targets, separated by commas. There can also be a single <font> element with no target attribute that overrides the defaults for the entire theme. The rule is that for each font, each parameter (size, color, font name) gets individually looked up first in a <font> element with the specific target; if it doesn't exist or doesn't have that parameter, it gets looked up in the base <font> element, and if that doesn't exist or doesn't have that parameter, the default is used. You should no longer use the old <font_color> element (though it is still supported for backwards compatibility).

As an example, the following theme.xml (combined with the appropriate TTF files) sets up the fonts exactly the same way as they are by default, but without actually falling back to the defaults:

Additionally, you can specify that the theme supports certain CKJ languages in its fonts, to enable those translations (though currently only Japanese is supported). Specify the language codes separated by commas as the langs attribute of the main <theme> element:

<theme version="1" langs="ja">

Keep in mind that the button and button_desel fonts should always be different in some way (weight, size, color). Otherwise, you will not be able to tell the currently selected options in the options menu.

Changelog

1.1.2

PAL 50Hz (576i) video mode now works properly

BootMii/boot2 can be installed again on newer Wiis

Icons load again in The Homebrew Channel

1.1.1

WiiU (WiiMode) compatibility - new title ID and exploit

1.1.0

Added support for RVL-CNT-01-TR Wii Remotes

New TrueType font renderer (FreeType) with antialiasing and theming

The new default font is Droid Sans

Added full UTF-8/Unicode support (font dependent)

Added Japanese translation

IOS is always reloaded, use ahb_access to keep AHB access enabled

Fixed HBC framebuffer tearing/lag/sync/corruption issues

Aligned HBC graphics to the pixel grid (sharper graphics)

Aligned font rendering to the pixel grid in both 4:3 and 16:9 mode

Fixed/improved text layout

Fixed support for huge meta.xml files (e.g. very long descriptions)

Renamed "Coder" to "Author" in app descriptions (<coder> is now an alias for <author>)

Fixed missing theme app entries (sometimes)

Changed many crashes into explicit errors / a panic screen

Speed and stability improvements when launching apps (cleanup after IOS)

Reload stub: support any BAT setup (or even real mode)

Reload stub: do not depend on existing exception vectors

Reload stub: do not touch HID4

Reload stub: disable IRQs ASAP

Fixed bugs in device hotplugging support

Added nicer error message triggered when HBC runs out of memory while loading an app

Beta 4

Beta 3

FAQ

The official FAQ from the developers of the Homebrew Channel can be found here.

Easter Eggs

Pop the Bubbles!

Being able to pop the bubbles in the background of the HBC was a frequent request, and as of 1.0, it is possible.

Press + and the animated background will be the only thing visible, along with a score counter in the bottom right hand corner. Place the hand cursor over any bubble and it will pop, spawning smaller bubbles and adding to the score counter. The smaller bubbles can also be popped. When you are done, press + again to return to the list of applications.
If you leave the wii on this screen for too long, it will crash.

NOTE: As of version HBC 1.0.5 the Pop the bubbles (with scoring) is removed. You can still pop the bubbles (without scoring) by pointing at the bubbles as usual, but you cannot prompt a score board. You can also remove the SD Card (and/or USB drive) to make more room on the screen.